The biodiversity bandwagon: the splitters have it

The accurate estimation of biodiversity has become one of the most important biological and conservation concerns of the 21st century. An unbiased estimate of biodiversity requires an unambiguous measurement unit. The most commonly used unit is the ‘species’, and though it is implicitly accepted as valid, consistent and appropriate, there has been little consensus over the many different species concepts proposed over the years1. Among these, the Biological Species Concept2 has been widely used, but it has come under fire due to the arbitrariness of the genetic distance or morphological divergence that is generally used to assign species status3,4. Recently, the phylogenetic species concept5, which recognizes diagnosably distinct taxa, has been used extensively for some groups. In the context of conservation, ‘management units’and ‘evolutionary significant units’ have been proposed6,7, but most studies still use species as the basic unit without examining or explaining which definition of ‘species’ they are using

Evaluation of design parameters of eight dental implant designs: A two‑dimensional finite element analysis

Aim: Implants could be considered predictable tools for replacing missing teeth or teeth that are irrational to treat. Implant macrodesign includes thread, body shape and thread design. Implant threads should be designed to maximize the delivery of optimal favorable stresses. The aim of this finite element model study was to determine stresses and strains in bone by using various dental implant thread designs.Materials and Methods: A two‑dimensional finite element model of an implant–bone system is developed by using Ansys. An oblique load of 100 N 45° to the vertical axis of implant as well as a vertical load was considered in the analyses. The study evaluated eight types of different thread designs to evaluate stresses and strains around the implants placed in D1 bone quality.Results: Forty‑five‑degree oblique von Mises stresses and strains were the highest for the filleted and rounded square thread with an angulation of 30° (216.70 MPa and 0.0165, respectively) and the lowest for the trapezoidal thread (144.39 MPa and 0.0015, respectively).Conclusions: The findings in this study suggest that the filleted and rounded square thread with an angulation of 30° showed highest stresses and strains at the implant–bone interface. The trapezoidal thread transmitted least amount of stresses and strains to the cortical bone than did other models

Inhibition of Pro-Inflammatory Molecules by Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) and its Anti-Inflammatory Effects on Arthritis Patients

Herbal medicinal plants are used to treat various disorders in many traditional medicinal systems around the world. Usage of this herb found in Indian and Chinese medicinal systems. The availability of ginger herb is Universal these days, where it is cultivated for its underground stem (Pseudo-stem). Most commonly used part is rhizome. This  ginger rhizome has many therapeutic uses including anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetics, antioxidant, anti-microbial and also curing in vomiting, constipation, indigestion, cold, fever,cough, nausea, reparatory conditions, bronchitis  etc., these activities were checked using different solvents of different polarity. Arthritis is known for its extreme joint pain and swelling may be treated by using ginger essential oil extract. It was studied that it has the capacity to reducing the pro-inflammatory molecules by lowering the RA-F, CRP, ESR level in the blood.The essences of ginger are due to the chemicals present in them. The products obtained from the ginger like essential oil and oleoresin are used all around the world for its food and pharmaceutical properties.The bioactive compounds like [6]- gingerol and its dehydrated form [6]- shogaol can inhibits the production of free radicals and oxidative stress, along with this properties it can reduce the pro-inflammatory molecules like prostaglandins by inhibiting COX-1 and COX-2.It also observed by the recent studies that the ginger and its extract have the capacity of suppressing the leukotriene biosynthesis by inhibiting 5-lipoxygenase. To this effect in-vitro study conducted in the lab shows the maximum inhibition as well as maximum protection by the ginger essential oil extract. The essential oil extraction were administered external apply and the variation in the certain proteins and inflammation related antibodies were studied. Keywords:  Zingiber offcinale, Spice, Arthritis, Essential oil, Anti-Inflammatory, Gingerol, Shogaol, Auto-Immune Disorders

Smart Cultivation

The proposed project is about a serious issue in today’s world that is insufficient food production, which prevails in many parts of the world. Farming plays an important role in food production and economic development in India and in the world as a whole. Getting high yield from the available land depends on fertility, moisture content of the soil and other climatic factors. The proposed work helps to overcome this problem, which aims at developing an automatic fertilizer-irrigation control and management system. It improves soil porosity and nutrient content through periodic application of required amount of fertilizers and water for crop’s growth. This will metabolize the soil texture, give nutrients to the crops, build plant tissues as well as increase the rate of crop productivity. The implementation of the work is achieved by sensors which include potassium sensor, nitrogen sensor, humidity sensor and temperature sensor, applying Intelligence technique by using Arduino nano to control the valve of the irrigation system. The system automatically applies soluble agrochemical fertilizers and water based on plant needs, as a result of which productivity is increased to considerable amount to meet out increasing needs

Smart Cultivation

The proposed project is about a serious issue in today’s world that is insufficient food production, which prevails in many parts of the world. Farming plays an important role in food production and economic development in India and in the world as a whole. Getting high yield from the available land depends on fertility, moisture content of the soil and other climatic factors. The proposed work helps to overcome this problem, which aims at developing an automatic fertilizer-irrigation control and management system. It improves soil porosity and nutrient content through periodic application of required amount of fertilizers and water for crop’s growth. This will metabolize the soil texture, give nutrients to the crops, build plant tissues as well as increase the rate of crop productivity. The implementation of the work is achieved by sensors which include potassium sensor, nitrogen sensor, humidity sensor and temperature sensor, applying Intelligence technique by using Arduino nano to control the valve of the irrigation system. The system automatically applies soluble agrochemical fertilizers and water based on plant needs, as a result of which productivity is increased to considerable amount to meet out increasing needs

Diversity in Functional Organization of Class I and Class II Biotin Protein Ligase

The cell envelope of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tuberculosis) is composed of a variety of lipids including mycolic acids, sulpholipids, lipoarabinomannans, etc., which impart rigidity crucial for its survival and pathogenesis. Acyl CoA carboxylase (ACC) provides malonyl-CoA and methylmalonyl-CoA, committed precursors for fatty acid and essential for mycolic acid synthesis respectively. Biotin Protein Ligase (BPL/BirA) activates apo-biotin carboxyl carrier protein (BCCP) by biotinylating it to an active holo-BCCP. A minimal peptide (Schatz), an efficient substrate for Escherichia coli BirA, failed to serve as substrate for M. tuberculosis Biotin Protein Ligase (MtBPL). MtBPL specifically biotinylates homologous BCCP domain, MtBCCP87, but not EcBCCP87. This is a unique feature of MtBPL as EcBirA lacks such a stringent substrate specificity. This feature is also reflected in the lack of self/promiscuous biotinylation by MtBPL. The N-terminus/HTH domain of EcBirA has the self-biotinable lysine residue that is inhibited in the presence of Schatz peptide, a peptide designed to act as a universal acceptor for EcBirA. This suggests that when biotin is limiting, EcBirA preferentially catalyzes, biotinylation of BCCP over self-biotinylation. R118G mutant of EcBirA showed enhanced self and promiscuous biotinylation but its homologue, R69A MtBPL did not exhibit these properties. The catalytic domain of MtBPL was characterized further by limited proteolysis. Holo-MtBPL is protected from proteolysis by biotinyl-5′ AMP, an intermediate of MtBPL catalyzed reaction. In contrast, apo-MtBPL is completely digested by trypsin within 20 min of co-incubation. Substrate selectivity and inability to promote self biotinylation are exquisite features of MtBPL and are a consequence of the unique molecular mechanism of an enzyme adapted for the high turnover of fatty acid biosynthesis

Burden of typhoid and paratyphoid fever in India.

BACKGROUND: In 2017, more than half the cases of typhoid fever worldwide were projected to have occurred in India. In the absence of contemporary population-based data, it is unclear whether declining trends of hospitalization for typhoid in India reflect increased antibiotic treatment or a true reduction in infection. METHODS: From 2017 through 2020, we conducted weekly surveillance for acute febrile illness and measured the incidence of typhoid fever (as confirmed on blood culture) in a prospective cohort of children between the ages of 6 months and 14 years at three urban sites and one rural site in India. At an additional urban site and five rural sites, we combined blood-culture testing of hospitalized patients who had a fever with survey data regarding health care use to estimate incidence in the community. RESULTS: A total of 24,062 children who were enrolled in four cohorts contributed 46,959 child-years of observation. Among these children, 299 culture-confirmed typhoid cases were recorded, with an incidence per 100,000 child-years of 576 to 1173 cases in urban sites and 35 in rural Pune. The estimated incidence of typhoid fever from hospital surveillance ranged from 12 to 1622 cases per 100,000 child-years among children between the ages of 6 months and 14 years and from 108 to 970 cases per 100,000 person-years among those who were 15 years of age or older. Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi was isolated from 33 children, for an overall incidence of 68 cases per 100,000 child-years after adjustment for age. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of typhoid fever in urban India remains high, with generally lower estimates of incidence in most rural areas. (Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; NSSEFI Clinical Trials Registry of India number, CTRI/2017/09/009719; ISRCTN registry number, ISRCTN72938224.)

Preparation and thermal conductivity of CuO nanofluid via a wet chemical method

In this article, a wet chemical method was developed to prepare stable CuO nanofluids. The influences of synthesis parameters, such as kinds and amounts of copper salts, reaction time, were studied. The thermal conductivities of CuO nanofluids were also investigated. The results showed that different copper salts resulted in different particle morphology. The concentration of copper acetate and reaction time affected the size and shape of clusters of primary nanoparticles. Nanofluids with different microstructures could be obtained by changing the synthesis parameters. The thermal conductivities of CuO nanofluids increased with the increase of particle loading

Novel substituted methylenedioxy lignan suppresses proliferation of cancer cells by inhibiting telomerase and activation of c-myc and caspases leading to apoptosis

Conventional solvent fractionation and bioactivity based target assays were used to identify a new anti-cancer molecule from Phyllanthus urinaria, a herbal medicinal plant used in South India. At each step of the purification process the different fractions that were isolated were tested for specific anti-proliferative activity by assays measuring the inhibition of [3H]thymidine incorporation, and trypan blue drug exclusion. The ethyl acetate fraction that contained the bioactivity was further purified and resolved by HPLC on a preparative column. The purity of each of the fractions and their bioactivity were checked. Fraction 3 demonstrated a single spot on TLC and showed maximum anti-proliferative activity. This fraction was further purified and the structure was defined as 7′-hydroxy-3′,4′,5,9,9′-pentamethoxy-3,4-methylene dioxy lignan using NMR and mass spectrometry analysis. The pure compound and the crude ethyl acetate fraction which showed anti-proliferative activities were examined for ability to target specific markers of apoptosis like bcl2, c-myc and caspases and for effects on telomerase. Four specific cancer cell lines HEp2, EL-1 monocytes, HeLa and MCP7 were used in this study. The results indicate that 7′-hydroxy-3′,4′,5,9,9′-pentamethoxy-3,4-methylene dioxy lignan was capable of inhibiting telomerase activity and also could inhibit bcl2 and activate caspase 3 and caspase 8 whose significance in the induction of apoptosis is well known. We believe that this compound could serve as a valuable chemotherapeutic drug after further evaluations

Investigation on two abnormal phenomena about thermal conductivity enhancement of BN/EG nanofluids

The thermal conductivity of boron nitride/ethylene glycol (BN/EG) nanofluids was investigated by transient hot-wire method and two abnormal phenomena was reported. One is the abnormal higher thermal conductivity enhancement for BN/EG nanofluids at very low-volume fraction of particles, and the other is the thermal conductivity enhancement of BN/EG nanofluids synthesized with large BN nanoparticles (140 nm) which is higher than that synthesized with small BN nanoparticles (70 nm). The chain-like loose aggregation of nanoparticles is responsible for the abnormal increment of thermal conductivity enhancement for the BN/EG nanofluids at very low particles volume fraction. And the difference in specific surface area and aspect ratio of BN nanoparticles may be the main reasons for the abnormal difference between thermal conductivity enhancements for BN/EG nanofluids prepared with 140- and 70-nm BN nanoparticles, respectively